The budget bill for next fiscal year working its way through Congress now includes $135 million for a new federal courthouse in San Antonio, officials announced Wednesday, prompting cautious celebration from civic leaders.

San Antonio is eighth on a priority list to get a new federal courthouse to replace the aging, problem-plagued building in Hemisfair Park, and the budget contains $948 million for all eight projects and to finish three others in cities where construction has already begun, according to an aide for U.S. Sen. John Cornyn.

The building here “falls woefully short of meeting the community's needs, and a new facility that keeps the judges, staff, and folks who use it every day safe and secure is long overdue,” Cornyn, R-Texas, said in a statement. “I look forward to working with San Antonio’s bipartisan delegation to get this bill over the finish line.”

The omnibus spending bill must pass a full vote by the Senate and House and be signed by President Barack Obama but local officials “believe that we will be successful,” Mayor Ivy Taylor said at a news conference at City Hall. “We’re cautiously optimistic that this will happen over the course of the weekend.”

“It’s a testament to the character of San Antonio to see the bipartisan effort that has gone forward in order to promote this community’s top federal priority,” she added.

In September, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar — joined by fellow Democratic Reps. Joaquin Castro and Lloyd Doggett and Republican Reps. Will Hurd and Lamar Smith — introduced a bill in the House seeking $135 million in emergency funding for the courthouse.

It was included in the bill after some behind the scenes negotiating in both chambers in recent weeks. Cornyn worked with the Senate Appropriations Committee to ensure the final bill included the new courthouse under the funding levels Congress agreed to in the budget.

In 2010, the federal government and the city of San Antonio entered into a land swap agreement in which the city agreed to trade its old police headquarters site at Nueva and Santa Rosa streets for land now occupied by the current courthouse at Hemisfair Park and an adjacent federal training center.

If the funding is secured, Taylor said, the city will go ahead with plans to redevelop Hemisfair Park with parks and mixed-use development.

She and members of the City Council’s intergovernmental relations committee — Council members Joe Krier, Rebecca Viagran and Ron Nirenberg — have traveled to Washington on several occasions, sometimes with judges and San Antonio Chamber of Commerce members, to lobby for the funding.

“We’re not doing this because we want to have another federal expenditure in San Antonio,” said Krier, who chairs the panel. “We’re doing this because we believe, and the mayor believes, that we owe it as citizens to provide our judges ... with the safest possible facility. They are dealing with some of the worst criminals that this country has ever seen.”

Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolfe noted that the county has an interest in the courthouse’s design plans because it will be doing work along nearby San Pedro Creek soon, perhaps early next year.

He added that the county recently voted to demolish the old county jail on Nueva Street, across from where the new federal facility will be located, which “ties in pretty good with the building of the courthouse, and the creek itself,” Wolfe said. “All this is just a major step forward.”

Richard Perez, president and CEO of the Chamber, called the courthouse funding “an amazing opportunity.” He gave credit to all involved in the lobbying effort, thanking in particular Cornyn and Cuellar. “This was that big speed bump that was holding us back to really be able to pull out that court and turn that old Hemisfair Park into the new Hemisfair Park.”

Cuellar, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, released a statement noting the push for funding was backed by the entire San Antonio congressional delegation. He praised Cornyn’s role, and, along with Hurd, he thanked U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw, a Florida Republican who chairs the appropriations subcommittee that handled the request.

U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez, who has led the court’s charge for a new courthouse for about a decade, estimated the project could take up to four years to complete even if the funding is approved and all goes as planned. He also thanked Cornyn and Cuellar.

“We’ve got security issues that still remain; we’ve got lead in the water and the (General Services Administration) has partly remedied that situation; we’ve had our third infestation of fleas, and we have continuing HVAC system difficulties,” Rodriguez said of the current building. “I think I can speak on behalf of my staff that we’re all willing to put up with a few more fleas for a couple of years.”

Lake Flato Architects began the court’s design phase a few years ago with half of $12 million the federal government set aside for that aspect, Rodriguez said. Half of the design phase is done and he said it would take six to eight months to finish the rest.

After that, the GSA, which maintains federal buildings, must put the construction out to bid. The new building is estimated to exceed 300,000 square feet, Rodriguez said.

“Optimistically, we’re looking at three and a half to four years before we’d be able to move in,” Rodriguez said.

The eventual fate of the existing federal courthouse has yet to be determined, said Andres Andujar, CEO of the Hemisfair Park Area Redevelopment Corp., the nonprofit charged with overseeing the city’s redevelopment of the 1968 world fair site — a massive project that will be completed in phases.

The city won’t take ownership of the courthouse until the new facility has been built and in use, but HPARC and city officials can beging discussing alternatives for the site, which will likely involve demolishing the old courthouse, he said.

First, the organization will complete Civic Park and Tower Park — segments within Hemisfair. Tower Park, which will be adjacent to the courthouse site, will be constructed in the 2018-2020 time frame, Andujar said — about the time the city will likely take control of the courthouse.

“I think this is showing the momentum going on downtown,” Perez said. “There are some people questioning, saying ‘There is not enough going on downtown.’ I would be the first to say, ‘Just look at what’s happening.’”

Guillermo has been with the Express-News for 10 years, and has covered federal court and its investigative agencies for most of that time. He has also covered immigration, minority affairs and legal affairs as part of the projects team here and for other print, TV and radio outlets. Guillermo has also worked in Central America, Mexico, New Mexico, Arizona and California and his work has appeared in various publications, including the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, New York Post, Newsday, Denver Post and the Albuquerque Journal.